A WORLD WITHOUT MATHS - CASE STUDY

A series of seven short educational films aimed at 5–7-year-old primary school children. The films transport the viewer to a world without maths, a land where people have forgotten how to do even simple sums. The series was devised and developed by Plastic Milk for the BBC.

The idea behind ‘A World Without Maths’ came from the difficulties people have understanding multiplication and division for the first time.

The series is set in a land like the viewer’s everyday world, except that no one knows how to do maths. Mum, Dad, Mrs. Sharma, Dave the builder, all perfectly normal except they can’t do maths. It’s not their fault, they’re not stupid, it’s just...well, no one can.

In this alternative reality everyone finds themselves in the position of a first time learner. Luckily there are two superheroes who have the skills to come to the rescue, Divider Girl and Multiplication Boy!

We developed each story outline and script from a learning point identified in the curriculum. The maths was integral to the stories, and we built each one around a real world problem that children could solve using their maths skills.

Our aim was to produce a set of films that were educational, funny and engaging. We wanted to make maths fun and accessible for children at all levels. We wanted them to learn from, and train alongside, characters of a similar age in a world where they could outshine the adults.

The series increases in complexity in line with the growing age and understanding of it’s viewers. The characters use kinaesthetic gestures to reinforce the maths functions. We see the lead characters struggle to work things out. This keeps them relatable, reinforcing the idea that the superpower of maths is something we can all achieve, rather than an innate talent.

We received excellent feedback from the BBC and from teachers who used the series in class. It was shortlisted for a Learning on Screen award, and topped the list of successful examples on the BBC Teach commissioning page. It was also used by the BBC as part of its lockdown learning output and has received over a quarter of a million views on YouTube.